Opportunity Index Technical Guide:

Creating an Opportunity Index at the Local Level in Five Steps

OVERVIEW
Opportunity Nation is a bipartisan, nationwide campaign comprised of over 275 non-profits, businesses, edu-
cational institutions, faith-based organizations, community groups and individuals working together to close the
opportunity gap in the United States. Opportunity Nation’s guiding principle is this: the zip code you are born into
should not determine your chances in life. When the ability to move up the ladder of opportunity grinds to a halt,
we are in grave danger of losing the best of America.

Opportunity Nation and our partner Measure of America joined together to develop a way to measure opportunity
and track progress over time at the state and county level: the Opportunity Index. This unique tool, which is up-
dated annually, helps to spotlight place-based barriers to opportunity. It also gives local leaders a multi-sector way
to talk about expanding opportunity where they live, bring diverse groups together and track progress over time.

Our goal is to increase Opportunity Scores in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C. Reaching this goal has
become the guiding light for our policy and advocacy efforts, as well as for our community and business partner-
ships. At the community level, this means working with elected officials, grassroots advocates and other local
leaders to set goals based on their priorities, local assets and challenges while encouraging community leaders to
work together to expand opportunity.

Sometimes spurring local-level action requires local-level data. This toolkit offers technical guidance on how you
can modify the standard Opportunity Index to create your own customized city, town or neighborhood-level Index.
It includes an explanation of the indicators that make up the Opportunity Index, how the Index is calculated and
ways to adjust the Opportunity Index for the local arena. It also features suggestions of how to build ownership
and create an inclusive preparatory process, present information in the best way for your target audience and cre-
ate mechanisms for sustainable change.

OPPORTUNITY INDEX: TIP

Creating a local Opportunity Index requires

a degree of technical skill. We strongly
recommend you partner with a local
college or university to create yours, to
ensure its accuracy and effectiveness.
STEP
The following are the sixteen indicators used for calculating the Opportunity Index, divided into the three dimensions of opportunity:

UNDERSTAND WHAT’S BEHIND

ONE
JOBS AND LOCAL ECONOMY
Employment Affordable Housing Inequality

THE OPPORTUNITY INDEX Indicator: Unemployment Rate (%)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
Rationale for inclusion: Retaining
a steady job is crucial to the social
and economic well-being of the vast
Opportunity can be defined in many ways, encompassing a range of circumstances that open doors to economic
majority of Americans, who rely upon
mobility. Opportunity stems from many sources, including demographic characteristics that individuals cannot
wages to maintain their quality of life.
change, such as their parents’ educational level or their racial heritage, personal characteristics and attributes, A high unemployment rate means
such as determination or intelligence, and conditions present in different communities, like quality schools and safe that job opportunities are scarce; at
streets. Although the first and second sets of factors are highly relevant to opportunity, the Opportunity Index fo- the community level, high unemploy-
cuses on the third set of factors, the conditions present in different communities. Compared to the other variables, ment rates also mean that there are
community conditions can be highly amenable to policy change and to collective efforts to improve both access to fewer informal employment networks
opportunity and quality of life. local people can tap to find a job.
The Opportunity Index allows us to compare the conditions different people face based on where they live. Where
a person lives is pivotal to his or her opportunities, including employment, education, housing quality and availabil-
ity, access to health care, political processes and more. Some communities have characteristics that open many
doors of opportunity for their residents; others do not. Focusing on geographic areas is also valuable because Wages
many of the policies and actions required to address lagging opportunity and economic mobility must happen at Indicator: Median Household Income
the county or state level. ($)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Ameri-
can Community Survey
Indicator Resources:
Rationale for inclusion: Wages (as
• U.S. Census: American Community Survey - http://www.census.gov/acs/www/ opposed to wealth) are the larg-
• Bureau of Labor Statics: Unemployment Statistics - http://www.bls.gov/data/ est part of overall income for most
• National Center for Education Statistics - http://nces.ed.gov/datatools/ Americans and therefore are the
main determinant of living standards
and financial security. Those with low
wages often face fewer opportunities
due to the high cost of educational
The indicators used to calculate the Opportunity Index come from official national datasets. The state-level Op- advancement, as well as restricted
portunity Index is made up of sixteen indicators in three broad categories—jobs and local economy, education and social and health resources.
community health and civic life. The county-level Index includes fourteen of these variables; group membership
and volunteerism indicators are not part of the county Index due to the lack of reliable, stable data at the county
level.
Calculating your local Opportunity Index requires three general steps:
1. Normalizing the indicators in order to put them all on a common scale;
2. Averaging rescaled scores together within each of the three dimensions of the Index;
3. Averaging the three dimension scores together to come up with the final score or grade.
Poverty
4. Each of the indicators in the Opportunity Index is weighted equally, and each of the three dimensions makes
up one-third of the final Index value. Indicator: Population below Poverty Line (%)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey
Indicator: Households spending less than
30% of income on housing (%)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American
Community Survey
Rationale for inclusion: High housing costs
trigger painful tradeoffs between safe, ad-
equate housing and other necessities, such
as education, medicine, food and transporta-
tion. An inability to find affordable housing in
a neighborhood with good schools and ad-
equate transportation constrains opportunity
for adults, who may face a long and arduous
commute to distant parts of town with more
employment, and for children, whose long-
term opportunities may be diminished by an
inadequate public education.
Assets
Indicator: Commercial banks, savings institu-
tions and credit unions per 10,000 residents
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County Busi-
ness Patterns and Population Estimates
Program
Rationale for inclusion: Familiarity with and
access to banking institutions is critical to
maintaining personal financial security. Those
who understand saving strategies benefit
from tax incentives and are less likely to be
exploited by companies marketing financial
products with high costs and limited benefits.
Individuals with savings make better long-
term decisions, have healthier psychological
well-being, and are more likely to succeed in
higher education. Additionally, understanding
and access to credit is key to small business
creation and expansion, an important avenue
of economic opportunity.
Indicator: 80/20 Ratio (household
income at the 80th percentile com-
pared to that of the 20th percentile)
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Ameri-
can Community Survey
Rationale for inclusion: High ratios of
income inequality not only concen-
trate social and economic capital,
and therefore resources, among
select groups, but also adversely
affect the health of those at the bot-
tom of social hierarchies. Evidence
suggests that the steeper the social
ladder, and therefore the inequality,
the worse the health effects on those
on the bottom rungs.
Internet Access
Indicator: High-speed Internet (% of
households)
Source: Federal Communications
Commission Internet Access Ser-
vices Reports
Rationale for inclusion: Internet ac-
cess has become a requirement for
full participation in American society,
necessary for everything from doing
homework to applying for jobs to
interacting with health-care provid-
ers. Indeed, the Internet will soon
be the chief way in which people
access information, part and parcel
of life’s essential infrastructure. Those
without this resource are at a severe
disadvantage in interacting with so-
ciety and accessing educational and
career resources.

In order to facilitate these calculations, Opportunity Nation can provide an excel spreadsheet with guidance Rationale for inclusion: Poverty is both a cause and effect of low educational achievement, poor health and limited community
at your request. Contact a member of the Opportunity Nation’s Community Leadership team to obtain this assets. Endemic poverty also puts families at risk and strips them of the resilience they need to weather hard economic times.
resource and any additional guidance.
EDUCATION COMMUNITY HEALTH AND CIVIC LIFE

Preschool Enrollment
Indicator: % ages 3 and 4 in school
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Ameri-
can Community Survey
Rationale for inclusion: An important
first step on the road to opportunity
is a high quality early education. The
percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds
enrolled in preschool is an important
indicator of school readiness and life
chances. Children who attend a high
quality preschool are more likely to
graduate high school and be em-
ployed as adults, and are less likely
to repeat a grade, engage in crime,
and spend time in prison, than at-risk
children who do not attend a high
quality preschool.
On-Time Highschool Graduation
Indicator: % of adults 25 and older who have
completed an associate degree or higher
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American
Community Survey
Rationale for inclusion: Those with more
education have access to jobs with higher
salaries and greater autonomy, but also tend
to be less affected by economic downturns.
During the Great Recession, college gradu-
ates faced a combined unemployment and
underemployment rate of 10 percent; those
with only a high school education faced rates
twice as high. In our increasingly information-
driven national economy, those without a
post-secondary education are becoming less
desirable employees. More education also
correlates to better, healthier, happier and
longer lives.
Associate’s Degree or Higher
Indicator: % of freshman who gradu-
ate in four years
Source: U.S. Department of Educa-
tion & National Center for Education
Statistics
Rationale for inclusion: Students who
do not graduate from high school
on-time are at a higher risk of never
graduating, not going on to higher
education, and neither working nor
attending school in early adulthood.
On-time high school graduation sets
the stage for young adults to take
advantage of educational and career
opportunities later in life.
Group Membership
Indicator: % of adults 18 and over
involved in social, civic, sports and
religious groups
Source: Measure of America analysis
of data from U.S. Census Bureau,
DataFerrett, Current Population Sur-
vey & Civic Engagement Supplement
Rationale for inclusion: Involved com-
munity members benefit from social
support and greater knowledge
about and access to a variety of
resources, increasing their well-being
and access to opportunity.
Access to Healthy Food
Indicator: Grocery stores and produce ven-
dors per 10,000 population
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, County and
Business Patterns and Population Estimates
Program
Rationale for inclusion: Access to healthy
foods at affordable prices is closely linked
with access to appropriate medical care,
as one of the formative social conditions
shaping personal health. When the lack of
full-service grocery stores makes obtaining
fresh produce difficult, or when the cost of
low-calorie, healthy foods—nine times more
than the cost of high-calorie foods with little
nutritional value per one thousand calories—
is insurmountable, health suffers. As health
declines, so too does people’s ability to seize
opportunity.
Access to Health Care
Indicator: Primary care providers per
100,000 population
Source: County Health Rankings
analysis of data from U.S. Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services,
Health Resources, and Services
Administration, Area Resource File.
Rationale for inclusion: Inaccessible
medical care directly results in de-
clines in health. Not only do financial
and geographic hindrances prevent
individuals from obtaining adequate
medical attention after they begin
to suffer from an illness or injury, but
these conditions also impede pre-
ventative care. People in poor health
are less able to create and seize
opportunities.

Disconnected Youth Community Safety Volunteerism

The Opportunity Index in Action
Indicator: % of youth (ages 16-24)
Arkansas not in school and not working
Source: Measure of America analysis
Dismayed by the 17.6 percent of young people who are neither in school nor working in Arkansas’ Ouachita County, Linda of data from U.S. Census Bureau,
Nelson, Executive Director of the Oauchita-Calhoun County Literary Counci,l uses the Opportunity Index to raise awareness American Community Survey, PUMS
and set goals towards increasing opportunity for these disconnected youth younh. Working with local leaders, the Council Microdata
hosted a mentoring series and planned a “Pathways Expo” for 200 youth looking to reengage in school or in the workforce.
Rationale for inclusion: Young people
Their new “Transitional Pathways Program,” will engage 10 youth annually to increase their opportunities. Using the Opportu- neither enrolled in school nor work-
nity Index has aided the program in its work to reform the social conditions that lead to youth disconnection and depress the ing face diminished prospects for
county’s overall Opportunity Index score. advancement in comparison to their
“connected” peers, who lay the
foundation for a productive, fulfilling
adulthood during early adulthood.
Iowa
The effects of youth disconnection
on all manner of opportunity are
After learning about Opportunity Nation and its mission, the President of the Des Moines Area Community College and CEO long-lasting, influencing everything
of the Community Foundation of Greater Des took action and founded Opportunity Iowa. Today, Iowa has a statewide coali- from earnings and financial indepen-
tion of community colleges, nonprofits and employers focused on raising public awareness about the urgent need to expand dence to physical and mental health
opportunity, by influencing key political leaders, launching worker-training programs and convening representatives to work and even marital prospects.
toward improving opportunities in counties.
Opportunity Iowa uses the Index to identify and resolve key social challenges that hinder personal achievement. They aim
to support community efforts already underway that advance economic mobility and to use the Opportunity Index to bring
diverse groups together around a common goal.
Indicator: Violent crimes (homicide, rape, rob-
bery, assault) per 100,000 population
Source: State data from U.S. Department
of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics; county
data from County Health Rankings analysis of
data from U.S. Department of Justice, Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation Criminal Justice
Information Services. County data from Illinois
by Country Health Rankings from Illinois State
Police Uniform Crime Reporting data.
Rationale for inclusion: If residents do not feel
safe within their communities, children may
struggle in the classroom and adults may
be less able to establish cohesive support
systems. Social bonds and informal net-
works tend to fray when crime rates are high.
Health also suffers when people do not feel
safe enough to exercise outdoors. All these
effects create formidable barriers to opportu-
nity.
Indicator: % of adults (ages 18
and older) who did volunteer work
through or for an organization at any
time in the previous year
Source: Measure of America analysis
of data from U.S. Census Bureau,
DataFerrett, Current Population Sur-
vey, Volunteering Supplement
Rationale for inclusion: Like group
membership, volunteerism is a
metric of social capital; it serves as
a proxy for community trust and
social cohesion, both of which are
important contributors to expanding
access to opportunity.
STEP MODIFY THE OPPORTUNITY INDEX
TWO
FOR USE AT THE LOCAL LEVEL
The Opportunity Index is available for all U.S. states and Washington, D.C., as well as more than 3,000 counties. But social
conditions within states and counties often vary tremendously; sometimes communities need more detailed, locally specific
measurements in order to understand key bottlenecks, appropriately focus their priorities and take action. Many of the indica-
tors used in the Opportunity Index are not available for geographies smaller than counties, and when they are, using them
requires pooling together several years’ worth of data to ensure the data are reliable.
This section explores ways you can adjust the Opportunity Index to zoom in on your community. Just as you know the best
pizza place in your hometown and the hours of the local gas station, only you understand the metrics most relevant to op-
portunity in your own neighborhoods, those dimensions that have played pivotal roles in shaping the well-being of the popula-
tion. Take advantage of this knowledge and employ it to better measure, analyze, confront and resolve the challenges facing
your community.
Measuring opportunity vs. measuring poverty, what’s the difference?
The official U.S. poverty rate is an important measure of people’s current material living standards, and is one of the sixteen
indicators that make up the Opportunity Index. But the current poverty rate, which measures only income, paints only a par-
tial picture of the landscape of opportunity in any given place. Accessing opportunity requires more than money; it requires
that people are healthy and well-educated enough to seize the opportunities that exist, that their ability to come and go is not
restricted by street crime, that their social networks provide information and resources about schools and jobs, that jobs are
available, and more. The Opportunity Index sheds light on these important questions.
Indicator basics
What makes an indicator “good”? A good indicator needs to be a fairly sound proxy for what you are trying to measure. If
you want to know the degree to which your neighborhood has access to the full range of financial services, from savings and
investment services to personal and business lending, you need to decide what you will use as a stand-in for “the full range
of financial services.” Because business loans tend to be made in person rather than online, you may decide that a physical
bank offering a specific set of services is the proxy you will use. Trade-offs are involved here. Some people will do their bank-
ing, including getting loans, online, while others may use a financial institution near their office. Choosing physical banks as
my proxy thus leaves out a share of banking institutions people in my community use. But since you have no way of getting
information on those other financial institutions, this trade-off is necessary.
Each indicator needs to have a clear definition. If you want to know how many full service banking institutions exist in my
community, you first need to define in a clear way what that entails. For instance, a storefront operation with access to the
public from the street can offer both business and personal loans at mainstream rates as well as savings and investment
services. Second, the data needs to be collected in the same way from place to place. If part of your data collection method-
ology is for people to walk the neighborhood counting the banks, then making sure that everyone is only counting storefront
banks and no one is counting checking-cashing places that offer high-interest short-term loans or bank offices not open to
the public is critical to the integrity of my data. Third, the indicator should remain constant over time. If in year one, you count
ATMs in your bank survey, and years two and three, you only count storefront banks, then you can’t make an accurate as-
sessment of whether access to banks has improved or not over the three-year period. Rigor and consistency are very impor-
tant. Your conclusions are only as a good as the data upon which they are based.
Some possible replacements for Opportunity Index indicators
Below is a table that identifies the three dimensions of the Opportunity Index, the themes within each of those three dimen-
sions, the indicator used for that theme within the Opportunity Index, and then, in italics, examples of indicators that could
serve as local-level proxies for your alternative index. The list of alternative indicators is by no means exhaustive. These are
simply examples of ways one might get at the different opportunity themes using locally-available data.
Also, some data in the Opportunity Index are available at a very local level: the census tract. When this is the case, it is noted
in the table and an alternative proxy indicator is not suggested. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that sometimes num-
bers at the census tract level are too small to make reliable estimates. Take, for instance, disconnected youth or the percent-
age of young people ages 16 to 24 who are neither in school nor working. If we try to calculate youth disconnection at the
census tract level, we are not working with the entire population of the tract (most census tracts have about 4,000 people,
though they range in size from 1,500 to 8,000 people), but rather a subset of that population, namely people ages 16 to 24.
This could bring the population in question down from 4,000 (all the people in a census tract) to 400 people (all people in that
census tract who are currently ages 16-24). A disconnection rate of 15 percent would mean that in this population of 4,000,
about 60 young people are disconnected. Sixty is a very small number, and the error margin in this case would be unac-
ceptably high. An option in this case is to use data pooled over three years or five years; this increases the reliability of the
estimate but decreases its value for tracking year-to-year change.
When a good replacement proxy indicator cannot be found, one option is to use the county-level data already included in the
Opportunity Index. In other words, if you are working in a small town or a specific city neighborhood for which localized data
are unavailable, you can use the county data as a stand-in. This trade-off is not ideal. If you are working in a very disadvan-
taged area, for instance, a countywide estimate may paint a rosier picture than would data on your specific place. Unfortu-
nately, however, sometimes this option is the best one available.
Jobs and Local Economy
THEME INDICATOR
Jobs Unemployment Rate (%)
Available from American Community Survey, U.S. Census Bureau, in five-year pooled
data estimates for populations under 20,000.
Wages Median Household Income ($)
Available by census tract from U.S. Census Bureau, (American Community Survey)
Poverty Poverty (% of population below poverty line)
Available by census tract from U.S. Census Bureau, (American Community Survey)
Inequality 80/20 Ratio (Household income at 80th percentile to that of the 20th percentile):
Available by census tract from U.S. Census Bureau, (American Community Survey).
Another alternative that is also used as a reliable measure of inequality and may be
calculated by a local university research department is the Gini coefficient.
Assets Banking Institutions (commercial banks, savings institutions, and credit unions per
10,000 residents): Possible local-level replacement:
The number of banking institutions in a community can be readily determined by a
physical survey of the area in question, with teams of people walking the streets of
the community and counting the number of institutions they find.
Affordable Housing Households Spending Less than 30% of Household Income on Housing Costs (%)
Available by census tract from U.S. Census Bureau, (American Community Survey).
In addition, other measures of affordable housing could relate to subsidized housing;
data on subsidized housing would be available from the local housing authority.

Jobs and Local Economy
THEME
Internet Access
High-Speed Internet (% of house-
holds for states; 5-level categories
for counties)
Education
Preschool:
Preschool (% ages 3 and 4 in school)
High School Graduation
On-Time High School Graduation
(% of freshmen who graduate in four
years)
Post-Secondary Completion
Associate Degree or Higher (% of
adults 25 and older)
Community Health & Civic
Life
Civic Engagement
Group Membership (% of adults 18
and older involved in social, civic,
sports and religious groups) [STATES
ONLY]
Volunteerism (% of adults ages 18
and older) [STATES ONLY]
INDICATOR
Possible local-level replacement:
Each internet service provider has information on the location and level of service
received by all its subscribers. Though this information is not collected in a uniform
way across geographies and service providers, it is nonetheless collected in one form
or another. Many county governments offer mapping programs on their websites that
identify utilities coverage.
Although these data are available by census tract from U.S. Census Bureau, (Ameri-
can Community Survey), the population of 3 and 4 year-olds in many census tracts
is too small for reliable estimates; use these data with caution at that level, or use
five-year estimates.
Possible local-level replacements:
• Unmet need for preschool—Ratio of number of preschool slots available in com-
munity to number of 3 and 4 year-olds who live in community (information could
be obtained by canvassing preschools to tally slots and using Census Fact Finder
to identify number of 3 and 4 year olds in the relevant Census tracts).
• Percent of children assessed as ready for kindergarten – sometimes school dis-
tricts have this information.
• Number of licensed daycare center slots per 1,000 children aged 0 to 4 years
(local Department of Social Services may have these data)
This statistic may be available from local high schools, school district offices or
boards of education.
Possible local-level replacements:
• Ratio of 10th graders to graduating seniors in local high school
• Dropout rate
Available by census tract from U.S. Census Bureau, (American Community Survey)
States, cities, and school districts have deployed different surveys that get at the
underlying concern for community connectedness that these volunteerism and group
membership indicators are measuring.
Possible local-level replacements:
• The Current Population Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau recently did a supple-
ment on volunteering for some cities.
• One example of a local survey is the California Healthy Kids Survey, which as-
sessed “the percent of eleventh graders reporting their level of connectedness to
school is high.”
• All states measure the percent of eligible voters who are registered to vote.
STEP
BUILD OWNERSHIP AND CREATE AN
THREE
INCLUSIVE PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH
PROCESS
After you have explored the best way to customize the Opportunity Index for use at your local level, it will be important to think
about the team that will be pushing this work forward. There are a few key questions you might want to consider.
What is your role in this endeavor?
Are you the leader of a program or organization that will collectively participate in this project? Are you working alone and
need to build a team? Whether you have a committed staff to work with already or not you should be thinking about partner-
ships and how a cross- sector approach to creating a local Opportunity Index might create a richer process and outcome.
Partnership
Community-based organizations and institutions of higher education should be the first two sectors you reach out to locally,
as they likely have resources that can play a leading role in researching data and performing the necessary calculations. Also
keep in mind local businesses and banks that might also have an interest in this project and in-house expertise to help with
data analysis.
Think about each theme in the index and which organizations are working on those issues in your community. They may have
insight not only on the best indicators to use, but also better access to data and resources related to those indicators.
How would you explain their participation as a mutually beneficial process? What is your elevator speech to get others in-
volved?
Who will calculate the Opportunity Index?
Although we advocate a team approach to this project, the actual calculating of your local Index – shown in Step 1 -- should
be lead by one person or a portion of the larger team. Having sound, reliable and explainable data is a key part of what
makes the Opportunity Index compelling. A considerable amount of time should be taken on making sure the figures are reli-
able. Establish your own system of checks and balances – this way you won’t have to worry about questionable outcomes.
For example, you may want to identify a trusted, credible reviewer in your community who can look at your methodology and
results before you share it more broadly.
What will the “Branding” look like?
If you have created a local Opportunity Index with a team you all should own the work together. This isn’t only fair, it is smart.
Collective ownership fosters increased awareness. Unless this is a tool you plan to keep behind the scenes, think of a name
for the project to promote it. You and your team will have to tailor this idea to your own needs.
In Norfolk County, MA – specifically Quincy – Opportunity Leader, Melissa Horr initiated Opportunity Quincy. This effort is
a merger of local community conversations about volunteerism, data and collaboration, shaped and supported by tools
released by Opportunity Nation: the Opportunity Index and our Shared Plan. About 100 individuals and more than 40 orga-
nizations participated in the “Opportunity Quincy” initiative over the past fiscal year. This is due to Melissa’s leadership and
commitment and also her strategic branding of the work from its earliest stages.
Melissa made sure “Opportunity Quincy” appeared on all related materials and she used this branding to recruit collabora-
tor. Melissa incorporated social media in her outreach efforts, creating a Facebook page, as well as a Twitter account, and is
currently working on a strategy to launch an Opportunity Quincy website. Many participants requested a centralized place for
information about opportunities and events.
STEP
PRESENT YOUR INFORMATION IN
FOUR
THE BEST WAY FOR YOUR TARGET
AUDIENCE
Calculating and preparing your local Opportunity Index is of little use unless it is effectively conveyed to a broader audience,
clearly presenting social conditions, highlighting potential for change and inspiring action.
Few people want to read tables of numbers or struggle with complex statistical jargon, and so you will need to find way to
share your Index findings in ways that make sense to different groups of people, including those with limited experience in
quantitative analysis. In this section, we will discuss strategies to focus your conclusions, as well as explore options for pre-
senting information in order to make a compelling argument for change.
Prior to drafting any account of your findings, think of the central message you wish to communicate to the audience, as well
as the most appropriate structure to do so. Regardless of the format of the work—case study, film, photography, formal re-
port or short document—make sure that you have a clear, concise introduction that makes evident the purpose of your work
and a conclusion that re-emphasizes the findings.
Within the body of the work, you may wish to discuss the results in the three distinct categories of jobs and the local econ-
omy, education, and community and civic life prior to putting them all together. Remember that most people have not yet
thought seriously about the complex topic of social mobility and economic opportunity: keep it simple and clear.
Analysis that includes both quantitative and qualitative explanations is often the most convincing. Numerical information is
helpful in understanding and summarizing the experiences of groups of individuals, while qualitative data—such as quotes
and case studies—are frequently effective in humanizing the data and ensuring that the reader recognizes the real-world
impact of the numbers.
When discussing the diminished opportunities of disconnected youth, for example, it may be compelling to include the
personal testimony of a young person who is neither enrolled in school nor employed in the workforce and how that experi-
ence has affected his or her personal social and financial prospects. Keep in mind though that highlighted data—whether
quantitative or qualitative—should be representative of the broader data set. If, continuing the previous example, the percent
of disconnected youth rests below three percent, it may be inappropriate to emphasize the struggles, however real, of that
particular population due to its small size.
In a similar way, make sure to report standard statistical errors, and explain assumptions and caveats without becoming too
technical. Peer reviews and careful editing are key to ensuring both the accuracy and precision of reported data, and are of
the upmost importance since even a small error can threaten the authority of the work.
A common trap, particularly easy to fall into while simultaneously analyzing the multiple metrics that contribute to the Oppor-
tunity Index, is attributing causality where only a correlation exists. At the national level, for instance, the states that spend
more per pupil on education tend to also be states that have a higher average level of educational attainment among adults.
It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that the higher per pupil spending is leading to higher levels of educational attainment—
and maybe it is. But the causality could conceivably be working in the opposite direction; perhaps people with higher levels
of educational attainment tend to vote into office candidates that vow to increase educational spending, or are more likely to
vote “yes” on increased school budgets. Or maybe some other factor, like a labor market demand for highly skilled workers,
is causing both higher educational attainment and higher school spending. In short, tempting though it may be, saying that
one thing causes another is a tricky business, and one that even experienced social scientists approach with extreme caution.
Too much quantitative reasoning and data can
also overwhelm and unnecessarily confuse the
reader. Instead of simply reporting the numbers,
use your energy to decode the information so
that it is accessible and easy to comprehend.
Make sure to explain variables and use words, not
numbers, to explain the meaning behind the raw
values. If you have a lot of these values and they
are integral to your message, use an alternative
format, such as a map, table, chart, graphic or
diagram to display them in an attractive and user-
friendly way.
Graphics should contain years and units of
measurement and be easy to read, titled and
annotated well, and formatted similarly within the
document. Graphics are also a great way to break
up blocks of text with color and images as well as
highlight key findings, thereby making the reader’s
experience more enjoyable and less demanding. Bear in mind that not all data referenced in or used for a publication must be
formatted for inclusion in its main body; it can be appended in accompanying tables to provide a reference for the author and
reader alike.
Simplify each graphic so that it communicates one central message in a way that is straightforward and easy to understand.
Prior to distribution, test your presentation on colleagues or friends to see if they get the intended message. If there is too
much information for a graphic, try a table. A small, well-formatted table can often provide a great deal of simplified informa-
tion that is easily absorbable. Ensure that each table is labeled clearly enough such that it could be a stand alone, whether
published within a report, article, publication or web page.

Always remember to use plain language not only in the main text of your presentation, but also in all tables, visuals, and
graphics. You are discussing themes and topics that affect everyone, from a recently arrived immigrant still struggling with
English to the most sophisticated academic. It should also be your goal to make your data as accessible as possible. Plain
language is faster to read and more efficient in getting your message across. Some basic tips include keeping sentences and
paragraphs short, starting each paragraph with the most important message, aiming for one idea per sentence and avoiding
passive voice.
Another useful tool, particularly when developing local data for the Opportunity Index, is drawing comparisons to larger data
sets, such as those available for the county, the state or the nation as a whole. The information you have calculated for your
local region is only meaningful in the context of how others are faring around you, so remember to provide an appropriate
framework.
You may wish to end your presentation with a set of suggestions for action to increase opportunity in your neighborhood.
While your findings may be interesting in themselves, they are only as meaningful as the advocacy they inspire and the lives
they improve.
STEP
CREATE A MECHANISM FOR
FIVE
SUSTAINABLE FOLLOW-UP
Our campaign uses the Opportunity Index for a range of activities both external and internal. These include informing
our policy agenda and connecting the work of our coalition members to Index data. It also helps us track progress on
our goal to improve Opportunity Scores in all 50 states and Washington D.C. When opportunity expands, we all benefit.
Because Index scores are updated and released each year, we are able to monitor improvements and setbacks.
What will the local Opportunity Index be used for?
In Step 3 we explored the idea of branding and how the team who worked on creating the local index can collectively
“own” it. But what will you collectively use it for? And do you imagine that use staying the same every year? Please see
the enclosed case study on our partners in Iowa who leveraged the Opportunity Index to create a statewide initiative,
Opportunity Iowa.
Here are some other examples of how others have used the index in the past:
Opportunity Leader Linda Nelson, executive director of the Literacy Council in rural Arkansas.
Linda uses the index to raise awareness and set goals to increase opportunity for disconnected youth ages 16-24.
Linda worked with local leaders to host a mentoring series. Soon after, she mobilized a dozen cross-sector stakeholders
to plan a “Pathways Expo” for youth looking to reengage in school or the workforce. This collaborative effort is laying a
foundation for a “Transitional Pathways Program” that is set to launch in Fall 2013. Linda’s team will engage a minimum
of ten young people each year to strategically increase their opportunities on their pathway towards success. Linda
plans to use the Opportunity Index to raise awareness as she plans and fundraises each year.
The Washington State Budget and Policy Center’s report titled “In Pursuit of Prosperity: Eight Strategies to Rebuild
Washington State’s Economy” cites the Opportunity Index when highlighting the Opportunity Scores of Washington’s
counties. The report highlights that no county in Washington received an A grade, and outlines goals and strategies to
increase opportunity. Proposals include providing a high quality education to all students, protecting public health and
reprioritizing state spending to build thriving communities.
Conclusion:
We know the creation of your own Local Opportunity Index will be a time-intensive and challenging process. But we believe
the end result will give you valuable insight into how well your community expands or constricts opportunity where you live.
We hope this technical guide is helpful and we look forward to exploring and sharing your local Index when it is ready for
prime time.

If you have questions about this document or about the process of creating your own Opportunity Index, please contact Op-
portunity Nation’s Community Leadership staff http://www.opportunitynation.org/pages/opportunity-nation-staff.

Thank you for working every day to expand educational opportunity and economic mobility in your community.